by Nikki Turner
“Dodo, my nigga. How you doing? Hold on, you ain't come over here for no rocks or blows, did you?”
“Hell nall. Why you ask me that?”
“Nall, I just was gon’ show you who got the bomb on that diesel and I know who got some butter on the cracks. I'm a diesel man myself, but I don't discriminate when it's free.”
Dodo took a seat on the car hood beside Casey. “I don't fuck around with that shit. W'sup with you, though? What you doing out here?”
“Man, I'm hustling.”
“You hustling?”
“Hell yeah. This shit is sweet. I ain't got to do nothing but sit out here and watch for the law and call out the name of the dope who I'm on security for.”
“Don't look like you would have been able to call out nothing the way you was nodding when I walked up.”
Casey laughed until he began coughing. “Gimme a square.”
“I ain't got none, really. I was on my way to the store to grab me some rollups when I remembered that somebody told me that I could probably find you over here. Who you out here working for?”
“One of these fucking shorties. I don't care who I get down with as long as I get a wakeup blow in the morning, a lunchtime blow, a go-home blow, and twenty dollars a day. What you finta do? You bout to set you up a crew and get down out here?”
“Selling dope? No thanks. Nigga, I'm just out the damn joint and I ain't finta do nothing that can send my ass back.”
“I heard that shit. Well, this ain't it for me. I'm just biding my time until I can hustle me up a few dollars so I can get me a few grams of my own and then I'm off and running. Getting some of that big dope money. Since I already blow myself I know I can put the best shit out here on the streets 'cause I'll be testing it myself. Once I get me a nice piece of dough, then I'm out of here. Probably go get clean and then go out to the coast or something. Spend the rest of my days walking me a big pretty dog on the beach with some pretty-ass white wife.”
“Sounds like you got it all planned out. Me, I don't think I managed to think that far ahead, Casey. Right now I'm just enjoying my freedom.”
“Got to have a plan, man. If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail, baby boy. But look, let me get back over here and start yelling out this name for these niggas. We'll be getting off soon and they'll try to dock my pay if they don't see me yelling out that name. When we get a chance we need to hang out.”
Both men stood and Dodo managed to suffer through another of Casey's funk-laced hugs.
“Take it easy,” Dodo said as he walked away.
“Dodo!” Casey called out.
Dodo stopped. “Yeah?”
“I thought you was gon’ try and come at me when you got out 'cause I couldn't carry you, man. I broke one of my wrists and bruised my ribs up. I couldn't pick you up and you was in bad shape. The best place for you to be was still there when the ambulance came.”
Dodo looked at Casey for a long moment. “It's all right. I survived, didn't I? Ain't nothing I could do to you that would be worse than what you doing to yourself, so don't worry about it. Like one of the enlightened brothers in the joint used to tell me, the universe has a way of balancing itself out. I'll try to get back this way and holler at you. Take care of yourself.”
Casey grinned, revealing several missing teeth. “I'll do that, Dodo. Love you, baby boy.”
FOUR
AS DODO APPROACHED the corner store someone called out to him. “Dodo, w'sup, nigga! Hold up for a sec!” shouted the driver of a creamy white Cadillac SRX. “Hold on for a minute, I'm finta swing around and park.”
Dodo looked at the hybrid SUV, but he didn't recognize the driver or his voice. Cautiously he stepped up on the curb in front of the corner store and waited for the driver to park his vehicle.
The driver whipped into a U-turn and glided the car into a no-parking zone in front of the store. The driver climbed out of the car and came around to the sidewalk, smiling all the while. The heavy-set man grabbed Dodo's hand and gave him a handshake hug.
“What's happening, nigga?” the man asked. “It's good to see one of the old-school fools out here on the bricks. You looking good, too. All healthy and shit. Nigga was lifting some weights in the joint.”
Dodo stood there looking at him blankly.
“Don't tell me that you don't know who I am,” the man said. “Nigga, look at me. You tell me you don't know me?”
“My fault, homie, but I can't even lie, I'm clueless.”
The man laughed. “Damn, it's been that long, huh? I know that I gained some weight and grew some face hair, but look at me. Take a good look.”
Dodo started shaking his head slowly, and then recognition crept into his eyes. “Danny Man? Casey's little brother.”
“The one and only. I'm all grown up now.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Dodo commented as he glanced at Danny Man's huge potbelly. “You done grown out, too.”
Danny Man laughed as he rubbed his large stomach. “Nigga, that's that good living. Steak and lobster, living like a mobster. I see you lost yo hair up in that place, huh?”
Self-consciously Dodo rubbed his head. It was shaved clean, but a close observer could see that on top no follicles would ever grow again.
“Yeah, twelve years in the joint will do that for you,” Dodo said.
“You'd probably lose more than your hair in there.”
Danny Man rankled a bit at the slight insult, but just as quickly he let it go. “You ain't even got to act like that. Nigga, you just did all that time, you a real old gee now. We need to be celebrating that you back among the land of the living.”
“You look like you on your way to go celebrate now,” Dodo observed. “What you all dressed up for?”
Danny Man looked down at his tailor-made white linen suit and matching white shoes. “Tell me I ain't killing them with this here. I'm on my way to my boy's engagement party. He finta propose to his lady on a cruise on Lake Michigan and everybody that's coming got to wear all white. Yo, have you seen Casey in the coupla weeks since you been out?”
“Actually, I just came from over there hollering at him. What happened to that nigga?”
“Well, you know, Casey always liked to put something in his nose. He started getting a little money on the heroin side and the next thing I knew he was putting more of it in his nose than out on the streets.”
Dodo raised an eyebrow. “Hold on, hold on. You said that I been home for a coupla weeks. How did you know that?”
Making a sweeping gesture with his arms, Danny Man said,
“This is my hood. Ain't shit I don't know about. I know while you was in the joint niggas was coming in there talking about DM. I'm DM. Ain't no more of that little Danny Man shit. I'm that nigga now. This is my shit around here, and I always know what's happening.”
“Yeah?” Dodo asked skeptically.
“Yeah,” Danny Man assured him. “You can check my files. Them niggas that robbed me, they mamas go visit they graves on they birthdays. Now, I got this shit on lock. The neighborhood ain't split up no more, niggas fighting over blocks but ain't getting no money. Them days is over now. We put that shit behind us. It's all about that paper. Cash rules, smack fools. I got the paper so I got the say-so.”
“Is that so? Well, I wish you woulda sent me some paper while I was down in the joint.”
“Man, they hit you hard, too. Manslaughter, wadn't it?”
“Two counts 'cause I didn't have no license. Old girl that was in that Blazer was pregnant when she died. That plus the pistol and I had a probation warrant.”
“Whew, that was way fucked up that day. We tried to get you up out the car, but yo leg was messed up and Casey was fucked up. How's yo leg?”
“Pins in it to this day. Since I was the only one there when the cops got there, they tried to hang my ass in court.”
“Man, we thought you was dead, so we got up outta there. It ain't like neither of us knew no lifesaving techniques or shit. We didn't know w
hat to do so we ran. It ain't my fault.”
“Yeah, y'all ran and left me to take the weight,” Dodo said with a heavy scowl on his face. “So don't stand up there and act like it didn't happen like that. I wouldn'ta been there if we wadn't trying to catch the niggas that robbed you.”
“Man, I told you !” Danny Man exploded. He paused to give himself a second to regain his composure. “Man, I told you that you was so fucked up wadn't nothing we could do but leave you. Don't be up here acting like you wouldn't have done the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot.”
“Yeah, that's true, but I didn't make yo brother run that red light.”
“You the one told that nigga to drive knowing that he was high off that raw cocaine. That shit had him speedballing. I think that nigga was born to be a dope fiend or something. I don't fuck with that nigga in no type of way. I'm sick of that nigga stealing from me. That dude would steal the paint off a wall. He been to the joint a couple of times for petty shit.”
“He ain't come behind the wall,” Dodo commented. “Back in the early years of my bit, I would have loved to bump into him in maximum security.”
“What you mean by that?” Danny Man asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh nothing. Just that if he would have come behind the wall before I managed to get my mind right, then I would have made sure that I showed him the maximum security hospitality that is due such a good friend.”
“Whatever that mean,” Danny Man said dismissively as he looked at the diamond-encrusted wristwatch he was wearing. “Man, I would love to stick around and chew the fat with you, but I've got to get up out of here. I gotta grab a few things out the store. What you finta do?”
“I'm going in the store, too.”
Both men walked to the store's entrance. Dodo pushed open the glass and metal door and walked in, letting the door go behind him. The door almost smacked Danny Man in the face but he caught it in time.
“Damn, Dodo, watch that shit!” Danny Man said.
“My fault,” Dodo said dryly without turning around. “The hinges must be loose or something.”
They both got in line behind several other patrons. It was a small store crowded with all types of merchandise. As they waited their respective turns to make purchases at the wood-and-Plexiglas counter, the store's door burst open and a trio of boisterous little girls walked in. Oblivious to their surroundings the girls yammered among themselves as they collected potato chips, snack cakes, and juices from the store's aisles.
“I'm gon’ get me a dollar worth of cheese on my Flaming Hots,” one of the girls said. She was walking backward as she talked to her friends and she almost stepped on Danny Man's shoes, but he stiff-armed her.
“Watch my shoes, shorty!” he said sharply. “These here cost four hundred dollars. I wouldn't let my moms steps on these without going bananas.”
The girls fell silent as they got in line behind Danny Man. Behind his back they rolled their eyes.
Dodo peeked back over his shoulder at Danny Man's feet.
“Them shoes cost four hundred?”
“Plus tax,” Danny Man said proudly.
“What kind of shoes is them?”
“Prada.”
“What they do that make them cost that much damn money?”
With a look on his face that said Dodo was asking a stupid question, Danny Man said, “Man, I can tell that you been gone for a long time.”
“Yeah, I missed out on the four-hundred-dollar shoes,” Dodo said wryly as he stepped up to the counter. “Unlucky me. A homie, give me a pack of Kite's and a today's paper if you got one left.”
Dodo tossed two crumpled singles on the counter to pay for his purchases. Danny Man stepped up to the counter next to order as Dodo was leaving out.
“Dodo, don't go nowhere for a sec. I want to put a bug in yo ear before you leave.”
Outside in front of the store, Danny Man put his hand on Dodo's shoulder. “Heard you been looking for work since you got out.”
“How the fuck you know what I been up to since I got out? Oh yeah, I almost forgot you told me this is your hood. Yeah, I been looking for a gig. I learned a couple of trades in the joint.”
“Well, when you get tired of filling out applications for bullshit jobs that they ain't gon’ give you, then come holler at yo boy,”
Danny Man said smugly. “I always need some good dudes that I can trust to work for me.”
Contempt was evident on Dodo's face. “Man, what you just say to me? Are you asking me to sell drugs for you?”
Danny Man withdrew his hand from Dodo's shoulder. “You ain't got to say it like that, like I'm trying to send you off or something. I wadn't saying that I wanted you to sell nothing. I got enough people doing that shit. I need people that I can trust to do other shit. Run the bundles, bag up shit, pick up money, or take care of anybody that get in the way of my getting down. That type of shit. I don't need you on the front lines. I know that you old school. I got more respect for you than to try and stick you in a dope spot. Gimme some credit.”
“Do I look like a mutherfucking errand boy to you?” Dodo snarled. “I ain't one of these young-ass street punks! You must be losing yo damn mind. Nigga, I was running these streets around here when you was still in diapers.”
“That's ancient history, Dodo,” Danny Man said arrogantly.
“Today is a new day and I'm the mutherfucking man around here. I was trying to put you down 'cause I know you just come home from doing a ugly bit. I was trying to make sure that you get some of this paper. A mutherfucker told me a long time ago, everybody want this money, but very few people know how to get it. Since I first hollered at you, you been talking jazzy. It sound like you mad 'cause while you was in the joint and Casey was snorting away his life, I was out here getting this money and making this shit go my way. Them days of that shorty following up behind you and Casey is long gone. I ain't no shorty no more and you need to quit trying to talk to me like I'm one.”
“Man, you better get up out my face with that bullshit!” Dodo snapped. “You might be a heavyweight to these new-school niggas, but you still little Danny Man to me, my man.”
Danny Man bit his lower lip as his plump face flushed with anger. Just then the door of the store swung open as the little girls exited. The girl leading the way was carrying a 99-cent bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos. Nacho cheese dripped down the side of the bag. As the little girl was walking out of the store, an uneven piece of the sidewalk caught the toe of her shoe and she stumbled forward. Her bag of cheese snacks sailed from her hand. The plastic sack of Cheetos landed upside down on Danny Man's shoe, but not before the majority of the bag's contents splattered against his pants legs.
In horror Danny Man looked down at the red and orange stains on his pants and shoes. The girl regained her balance and looked at Danny Man. Her hand came up to her mouth in pure terror.
“You stupid little bitch!” Danny Man roared as he kicked the bag off his shoe. The stains on his outfit began to worsen as the red spices from the Flaming Hot Cheetos mixed with the orange nacho cheese began to set in. He stormed over to the girl and grabbed her shoulders. The multicolored barrettes in her hair rattled as he violently shook her back and forth.
“Yo little dumb ass!” Danny Man yelled. “I should break yo mutherfucking neck for this bullshit!”
Dodo stepped up and put his hand on Danny Man's arm. “Man, what's wrong with you? That's a little kid. She ain't try to do that. Let her go.”
“You better let me the fuck go!” Danny Man raged.
“Who the fuck you think you talking to? You better get yo damn hands off that little girl, nigga!”
“Dodo, you better mind your business, bitch!”
Dodo took a step back and dropped his newspaper on the ground. “Bitch. Who the fuck you calling a bitch?”
“You! Bitch!”
Dodo hauled off and punched Danny Man solidly in the jaw. The blow made Danny Man release the girl to try to defend himself, but
Dodo pounced on him like a tiger. He rained blows on Danny Man's head with both fists, and he easily got the best of the softer, fatter Danny Man. He gave him a body shot to his paunchy midsection, causing Danny Man to double over. Next he launched an uppercut to the underside of Danny Man's chin immediately following the body shot that lifted his head. An overhand right to the bridge of Danny Man's nose put him down for the count. As he lay on the ground, Dodo kicked him in the ribs a couple of times.
“Next time you decide to call somebody a bitch, make sure they really are a bitch,” Dodo said to Danny Man as he stood over him. As he picked up his newspaper, he said to the little girls, “Y'all get up out of here.”
After kicking Danny Man one more time he crossed the street and headed for home. The last he saw of Danny Man the store owners were standing over him as one of them made a call on a cell phone.
FIVE
DODO KNOCKED on the back door of his sister's apartment. He winced as a sharp pain shot through his hand. He looked at the back of his hand in the dim hallway light and saw swelling around his knuckles. Inside the apartment he could hear children playing and the television set. He rapped again on the door. This time he used his other hand.
“My momma said, who is it?” his nephew yelled from inside the apartment.
“It's your uncle Dodo.”
“It's Dodo, Momma,” the boy said as he unlocked several locks on the door. As the door swung open, the chubby six-year-old grinned at his uncle. “W'sup, Uncle Dodo?”
Dodo stepped inside the apartment and closed the door. “W'sup with you, Laheem?”
“Nothing. We was wondering where you was when we got home from school. I need help with my homework, and my momma said to wait on you.”
Dodo tickled his nephew. “Where yo momma at?”
Laughing, Laheem said, “In her room on the phone. She putting Mulan to sleep. Latrice is in the front room watching TV with me.”
“What you mean watching TV? I thought that you need help with your homework.”
He grabbed his nephew to tickle him again, but Laheem broke loose and scampered through the kitchen to the living room, almost knocking over his mother, Crystal. Wearing a silk scarf on her head, jogging pants, and an old T-shirt, she came out of her bedroom with the telephone tucked between her ear and shoulder. She easily sidestepped her son and looked into the kitchen at Dodo.